Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and its relationship to mental retardation

This study involved 100 patients who were classified as mentally retarded and who were hospitalized under state care. These patients, during the course of their annual physical, were screened for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency. The incidence of G-6-PD deficiency for both black and white subjects (S's) was compared to the incidence of G-6-PD deficiency to be expected in a normal population of each ethnic group. The screening and subsequent statistical analysis of the data indicates that the incidence of G-6-PD is drastically higher among Caucasian males in the atypical population than is to be expected and it is somewhat higher among the atypical Negroes. A chi-square analysis of the observed incidence as compared to the expected incidence produces a difference that is statistically significant to the .001 level for the Caucasians. It is felt that the results of the study, albeit, based on only 100 S's, indicates strongly that there may be a relationship between G-6-PD deficiency and limited mental capacity.